Volleyball Falls to UMass Dartmouth, 3-0

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- The Bridgewater State University volleyball team dropped a 3-0 decision to visiting UMass Dartmouth on Friday evening at the Tinsley Center.

The Corsairs (16-6) won the first two sets by scores of 25-14 and 25-13, and held off the Bears (10-4) in a closely contested third set, 26-24. UMass extended its winning streak to ten matches, while Bridgewater saw its modest four-match winning streak come to an end.

The match featured 2024 NCAA DIII Tournament participants. UMass also qualified for the NCAAs in 2023.

Sophomore Olivia Seutter (Mesa, Ariz.) paced the visitors with a match-high 12 kills and two blocks (one solo) while junior Skye Peters (Albuquerque, N.M.) dished out a match-best 19 assists to go along with five digs, an ace and a kill. Junior Maddie Carter (Beverly, Mass.) contributed five kills and an impressive .714 hitting percentage as well as two blocks (one solo).

The Corsairs recorded ten aces on the evening with senior Sabrina Bordone (Massapequa, N.Y.) leading the way with three aces and junior Allison Pate (Sebring, Fla.), senior Emily Pogorelec (Wayne, N.J.) and freshman Aleek Kuot (Beverly, Mass.) notching two apiece. Pogorelec added a match-high 15 digs.

Junior Lily Welch (Hanson, Mass.) tallied seven kills, 12 digs, two assisted blocks and an ace for the Bears who also received seven kills from senior Meaghan Coutu (Brookline, N.H.), 14 assists, eight digs and an ace from junior Xin Ai Robinson (Kaiserslautern, Germany), and 13 digs, four kills and a pair of aces from junior Ava Crane (Dartmouth, Mass.).

Bridgewater struggled on the attack as the Bears recorded a .010 hitting percentage with nearly the same amount of kills (26) as attacking errors (25).

The two teams combined for 21 serving errors, 11 for UMass and ten for BSU.

In the opening game, the Corsairs led 13-11 before closing out the set with a 12-3 run. Seutter registred four kills during the run including each of the final three points.

UMD tallied the first six points in the second set and never looked back. The Bears got as close as three, including a 10-7 deficit following a Crane kill. Bridgewater, however, committed four straight errors (one serve, three attack) and a Peters ace capped off a 5-0 run. The Bears would not threaten again in the set.

The third game featured 14 ties with neither team leading by more than three points. A kill by Welch accounted for the final tie at 24-24. The Corsairs, however, recorded the next two points, including a kill by Peters, to take the set, 26-24, and complete the sweep.

UMass finished with a .242 hitting percentage and committed just nine attacking errors.

The Bears are back in action next Wednesday evening as they host MASCAC foe MCLA at six o'clock. The Corsairs travel to VTSU Castleton on Saturday morning for an 11:00 AM Little East Conference match with the Spartans.